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Alfaz proposes to reduce foreign quota for strikers


Published : 31 Mar 2022 09:20 PM

Bangladesh national football team have been suffering from lack of genuine striker for long as most of the time despite playing better game fail to win matches. 

It’s not a problem of recent times, but it’s happening for at last 18 years, as Bangladesh team have to suffer defeats even playing better and dominating on opponents most of the time of the match. 

Bangladesh, who suffered a woeful 2-0 defeat to Maldives in a FIFA international friendly match in Male on March 24 and could win against Mongolia at home ground on March 29 at Sylhet Stadium. 

Interestingly Bangladesh team, in both the matches played better football than their opponents in home and abroad and could not win only for lack of skilled strikers when they could not even score a goal in two matches.   

It can be mentioned that Alfaz Ahmed was the last star striker of Bangladesh, who had the character of a genuine striker, as once he was adjudged by the AFC, Asian player of the month in 1996, July, leaving past the strikers of Asian powerhouses, like Korea, Japan, Iran Saudi Arabia, Iran, Qatar.   

Alfaz Ahmed, put across his views with the Bangladesh Post on Thursday on the scarcity of strikers in Bangladesh and also pointed out the reasons not to have sharp strikers. Former number one forward first of all said that foreign quota would have to be reduced in the domestic competitions.

“It’s my point of view that thereafter increasing the foreign players’ quota - three to four, from that time our sufferings started.”  

“You see, in the past maximum three to four teams recruited foreign players (two were allowed to play in a match) but now at least 10 teams recruit four foreign players for important positions like striking, stopper and midfield. All these important places occupied by the foreign booters. Specially, almost all the clubs field foreign strikers. If the striking positions are engaged by the foreigners, our local boys depriving from playing as strikers bound to change their role, some of them start to play in wing or some other positions,” Alfaz was explaining.

“It’s regular scenario that our local promising strikers, who signed up for the big teams are passing their times seating on the side bench, very rare they have the opportunity to play, so where from we would get strikers,” Alfaz expressed his frustration. 

Replying to a query Alfaz also revealed about the remedy to get rid of the difficulties when said, “Actually, it’s all our responsibility to produce strikers, but I think first off all foreign quota must be reduced to two. Federation should be strict on signing up foreign strikers, no foreign booters in striking position allowed for at least two seasons. Another important concept is that there should make it mandatory for all clubs to keep one emerging player (young) in the starting line-up.” 

“So I think, here, the Federation and Clubs would have to work on this and players would have also their own responsibility to build up himself as a skilled striker,” Alfaz, who earned distinction displaying excellent performances in his whole career, expressed his belief.